The Record: Put cap back

GOVERNOR CHRISTIE joined local officials from both parties at a rally Monday to pressure the state Assembly to reinstate a cap that limits salary increases police and firefighters win through arbitration to 2 percent a year.

The Assembly should get the message. The arbitration cap is instrumental in helping municipalities stay within a state cap that limits overall property tax increases to 2 percent a year. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, said he was hoping a compromise could be worked out.

That's really not good enough. There is bipartisan support for reinstating the cap as it was, and the speaker should not stand in the way.

No one questions the commitment police and firefighters make to serving their communities. Their jobs are often dangerous. Nonetheless, pay levels and raises have to reflect today's reality. The state's unemployment rate is still above 7 percent, and the recession resulted in many residents' losing their jobs or taking pay cuts. Simply raising taxes to cover 4 or 5 percent raises for any group of employees is no longer possible,

It is worth remembering that before the arbitration cap came about in 2011, negotiations between towns and unions representing cops and firefighters routinely went to arbitration. If one bargaining unit won a raise of, say, 4.5 percent, which was common, that award served as a guide for awards granted to unions in other towns. The arbitration cap ended the domino effect and ushered in a degree of financial control.

The problem was that when the cap was passed, it was put into effect only for a period of three years, which expired at the end of March.

Without the salary cap in place, it's possible for police and firefighter unions again to win annual raises of more than 2 percent. That could cause towns to make job and program cuts elsewhere to stay within the overall 2 percent cap on property tax increases.

Shortly before the cap expired, both the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Senate passed bills weakening the 2 percent limit, but the governor vetoed them. The Senate then voted to continue the cap as it was, but the Assembly has so far refused to act.

That made Monday's rally timely and appropriate. Public and political pressure, we hope, will compel the Assembly to reinstate the arbitration cap as is.

Property taxes in New Jersey are still exceedingly high, but progress is being made in controlling them. The average property tax bill last year rose by just a bit more than 1 percent.

That's strong evidence that the limits the state has placed on local spending are having a positive effect. It would be counterproductive for the Assembly to put that progress at risk by refusing to reinstate the arbitration cap.